The core concept behind Idiot Proof Computing (IPC) is simple: to make the benefits that large businesses gain (and to some degree take for granted) by having access to professional IT staff, available and accessible to small business and home office users.
Of course, like many simple concepts, the actual application is somewhat more complex. And of course, nothing worthwhile is gained without some cost. The primary cost of IPC is not measured in dollars but in the time and self-discipline required to change ingrained poor practices.

• Basic hardware and operating system selection and configuration. In professional IT circles this is often referred to as SOE (standard operating environment), but that's just a fancy shorthand for choosing a hardware and operating system (OS) platform that has been tested and proven satisfactory.
• Application software selection and configuration. Just as large IT departments carefully evaluate and select hardware and OS components, so they also select and evaluate application software packages before deploying them. And don't forget the "configuration" part of it—most applications need at least some configuration and there are often significant benefits to having this common across all the users.
• User training and support. Once a user has a computer all delivered and installed and configured correctly, almost all large organizations provide them with training and ongoing support. Even for tasks as commonplace and seemingly simple as web browsing, sending email or word processing, training is useful to help people work efficiently and to ensure that they are aware of the potential danger (e.g. viruses) of careless or unthinking actions (e.g. opening malicious email attachments, etc.).
• Background network support services. Large IT departments provide a series of services in the background that make life easier for the users, even if they are rarely seen. These include such things as:
• file backup;
• network security, particularly at the internet and email gateway;
• user account management;
• etc.

Each of these key IPC areas has a number of sub-parts and divisions. Some parts consist primarily of recommendations and test results, others include instructions and procedures, still others mostly relate to the services that we here at IPC provide to our customers (although of course pretty much any experienced IT support person could take on the role).